I saw "Slither" when it was first released to theaters in 1973 (it played as a second-bill to "Uptown Saturday Night"--now there's a combination!). I knew nothing about this picture, nobody seemed to know where it came from, yet by the finish I couldn't wait to see it again. Today, it is as fresh and darkly comic as a Coen Brothers movie. James Caan (at his best) plays low-keyed, amiable, freshly-sprung ex-con who, right off the train, gets involved with a series of lunatics. They involve him in a scheme to retrieve some embezzled loot, and one by one start taxing Caan's patience. Sally Kellerman is terrific as a sexy neurotic; she's very flaky and funny giving her insights on situations which stops everyone in their tracks. Peter Boyle and Louise Lasser are a hoot as a suburban couple who get mixed up in the mayhem, leading to a riotous car chase involving a motor home and two vans. If the conclusion doesn't exactly deliver on the early promise, that's OK because "Slither" is totally unconventional (even its title is obscure!). *** from ****
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fiozinho11 October 2002One of those films that make you realise just how good American cinema could be in the 70s. The plot is less important than the beautifully written and performed off-beat characters, all in their own way in search of an elusive (and finally impossible) pot of gold.
But perhaps the strongest feature of the film are the set pieces: James Caan gets a lift in the truck of a grumpy farmer: "Get out of my truck!" "Well, can you stop it first?"; Caan visits the 'head' in a diner, and a terrified customer comes rushing in - what's scared him?; the final ten minutes, a trailer marooned in the middle of the road, destruction all around, and James Caan finally waking up (existentially): "What the f*** am I doing here in a vegetable stand in the middle of nowhere?"
Caan showing a subtle touch with light/black comedy, the glorious Sally Kellerman, Peter Boyle as always wacky as hell ...
Pure gold. -
kumanoir3 December 2012An ex-con stumbles across America, meeting one oddball character after another, while being pursued by a mysterious black minivan. The characters are wonderful - oddball without being exaggerated or overdone. The plot is engrossing. It's a wonderful piece of 70s anarchy. It is very clear that this must have been a big influence on the Coen brothers movies. That combination of deadpan observation of personal quirk and absurdity, combined with violence and a twisting plot. The Big Lebowski is a clear example of where you'll this film's influence. All the performances are great, with Sally Kellerman being her usual unforgettable self.
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otto.muller16 July 2000"Slither" is a perfect, subversive, character-driven comedy that in its own way belongs in the same category as "Pocket Money." Both are sly, low-key studies of American losers, with McGuffins in both films merely serving as excuses for the characters to bump up against each other and to wrestle with their sweet, ever-lasting ineptitude. Not the least of "Slithers"'s triumphs is its perfect cast. Could any film fan in his right mind have imagined James Caan, Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, Allen Garfield, Richard B. Schull, and Alex Rocco (the latter was "Moe Green" in "The Godfather") in the same movie? Caan is wonderful as a laconic, recently released con whose brief visit with an old friend turns into a comedic nightmare involving murder, the hunt for a bag of money, and continuing sinister goings-on. The plot, which isn't meant to be taken seriously, never gets in the way of the picture's real interest: examining the human off-kilteredness that lies just inches below the surface of American life. Boyle steals the film as a classic American type, the small-town third-rate entertainer who performs masterfully at Kiwanis Club dances and similar venues. His patented shtick while emceeing an event is so breathtakingly awful, you either want to condole with him or grab a barf bag. Kellerman is equally good as every man's worst nightmare, a nut case who is likely to remind many males in the audience of a certain former girlfriend known briefly. To Caan's--and our--astonishment, she goes from intriguingly sexy to nutty to dangerously nutty in all of 15 minutes of screen time; nor can he get rid of her once he's bedded her. Louise Lasser's role is small and offers her less opportunity to shine, but she's perfect as Boyle's loyal, compliant wife who never seems to know that she's married to a squirm-inducing jerk. Script and direction mesh perfectly, and Caan is terrific as an unflappable stoic who seems to have wandered into the wrong film by mistake and finds himself confronted with one outrageous situation after another. It feels cathartic when he finally lets go and belts Kellerman towards the end of the movie. An A+ for this exceptional off-beat "little" film that one day may be rediscovered and hailed as a classic of its kind.
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Had long been curious about this movie-especially after first watching the beginning scene on YouTube-so I was ecstatic to finally check this out at my local library. James Caan is a recent parolee who encounters various people drifting down the road like Sally Kellerman when her car is temporarily out of commission or Peter Boyle who he has to meet concerning some money. Louise Lasser, Richard B. Shull, and Alex Rocco are among the supporting cast. I'll just now say that while there's some funny bits and lines, this was mostly played straight concerning characterization and plot. Yes, it meanders quite a bit but that's part of the movie's charm. So on that note, Slither is worth a look.
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Hey_Sweden17 March 2023James Caan plays Dick Kanipsia, a high school jock turned ex-convict who connects with embezzler Barry Fenaka (Peter Boyle); with the latters' wife Mary (Louise Lasser) in tow, they hit the road, in a red muscle car pulling a silver Airstream. The goal is to find a long-hidden stash of money. However, two ominous black vans are always dogging the trio, so it's clear that there ARE other interested parties.
Somewhat forgotten over time, this is an agreeable dark-humored crime picture with director Howard Zieff displaying a nice, light touch while making the most of the script by the great W. D. Richter. Although there is some violence and gore, the filmmakers are able to never let this get particularly unpleasant. Overall, the film is no great shakes, but then it's not exactly aiming to be in the first place. It's just an amusing road movie with a number of fun twists along the way.
The movie goes far on the engaging quality of the cast. Caan is amiable and low-key, and has good chemistry with the slightly shady Boyle; Lasser is endearing, and other familiar actors like Allen Garfield, Richard B. Shull, Alex Rocco, and Len Lesser turn up in entertaining supporting roles. But the show is stolen by a very sexy Sally Kellerman as an eccentric traveler who also gets involved in the action. She's a real character: a pill-popping, pistol packing, short shorts wearing free spirit who says some damn funny things. Basically, it's a hoot to watch so many of the other individuals in this story keep trying Dicks' patience.
By the end of the movie, you can hardly blame Dick for what he does! It's the perfect capper on this offbeat tale.
Seven out of 10. -
brileyvandyke14 August 2021James Caan is known as a tough guy, but he plays an entirely different character here. He is an ex con fresh out of jail and gets mixed up with eccentric criminals in which he thinks there will be a big payoff in the end. It's a comedy in which James plays his character in a kind, gentle way. You get the feeling he is going along to get along and those around him are crazy. Sally Kellerman is great as a crazy woman who meets Caan by chance and just won't go away. Peter Boyle also is good as a shady criminal trying to get money. Overall the plot is thin, but the ride is fun.
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bregund5 November 2022This film looked good in the description, James Caan and Sally Kellerman, what could go wrong. While the acting is good, the scenes, pacing, and editing are terrible, and the storyline and dialogue are awkward and klunky. In fact, this film is just as bad as that other James Caan stinkeroo The Gambler. I don't understand who was doing all the shooting in the beginning. How does blowing up the house get rid of the shooter? When Louise Lasser walks into the living room and sees a strange man pointing a gun at her husband, why doesn't she have any reaction? Is it something that happens so often that she's used to it? In the beginning scene, why is James Caan sharing a house with that guy, when he could be anywhere else in the world? He just gets out of prison, and his first thought is sharing a house with another man? How was the money stolen? Why was that guy at the end following them around, there's no explanation for his behavior. There's no sense of urgency or purpose to this film, all the characters just seem to wander around from place to place with no clear goal in mind, relying on the tides of fate to whisk them hither and yon. Pointlessly stupid film.
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Andy4428 February 2006One could find fault with elements of this movie, particularly pacing and continuity; but the laughs and the ambiguous, fascinating characters make it great fun.
Until the very end, we're never sure if anybody is who they seem to be. The quest for loot is fascinating, because it's not for a fortune, just a nice chunk of change that when split probably wouldn't amount to a year's wages at an average job. So the interest focuses on the people, their semi-silly adventure, and their uncertain relationships.
One reviewer didn't like it because it wasn't tightly plotted, and he's right-- it's more realistic/absurd than that. Same reviewer also didn't find it funny, which is dead wrong. Some of the comic bits are a little shaggy dog, or sometimes crude, but most people should get a lot of laughs from it.
Great cast, great acting, good enough dialog and "plot" add up to an under-appreciated (and, I suppose,under-seen) little gem. -
SnoopyStyle21 October 2018Dick Kanipsia (James Caan) gets released from prison. His friend Harry brings him to his rundown home where he gets killed in a hail of bullets. With his dying breath, he tells Dick about a stolen loot, Barry Fenaka (Peter Boyle), and Vicent Palmer before blowing up the house. He encounters free spirit Kitty Kopetzky (Sally Kellerman) but runs away when she turns out to be an unstable armed robber. He finds Fenaka and his wife who drives him on the search for Palmer and the stolen loot with an Airstream trailer. They find that they're being followed by two black vans.
I like the initial chemistry of the unstableness of Kellerman with the scruffy goodness of James Caan. When she goes away for awhile, the movie stalls. I expect Boyle to deliver humor but they're not actually laughs. It's a little quirky with a good helping of 70s grunge. I'd prefer Kellerman and Caan to stay together the whole way riding the emotional rollercoaster. Instead, the sexual heat dissipates. There is the high tension thriller aspect but it never really elevates. The villains follow him at arms' length. They're like menacing mimes. They try to kill him at the same time that they're bad at it. It's half trying to be funny or half trying to be thrilling. I'm not sure it achieves either. -
Boba_Fett113820 July 2007This was a rather awkward little movie to watch and I'm not sure what to think about this one. The movie is definitely supposed to be fun but it just isn't. I didn't realize this movie was supposed to be a comedy until the music kicked in, which was definitely comedy-style. The movie is made in a far too serious style.
The movie could had worked out, if only the director was just a better one. It was Howard Zieff's first movie and this definitely shows on screen. Nothing flows well, the characters don't always work out and because of this all the movie also doesn't work out as it was supposed to. I guess that in its core the movie had some more potential but the execution of the mixture of styles works out unbalanced, with as a result a movie that hardly ever works out.
James Caan still tried to make his character more interesting by portraying him as a sort of shy loser. Perhaps he did this because he wanted to do something totally different after his role in "The Godfather", which he had just completed before this movie. But I mean come on! James Caan is just not believable as a loser. He is far too cool looking for that, especially in the '70's he was.
There isn't much to the story really. To me it seemed like a moder retelling of "Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo", set in modern small-town USA. Problem is that there just isn't happening much interesting in the story at all. At points the movie could had really used some more pace and more exciting sequences with action in it.
The movie mostly tries to be fun with its quirky characters that pop-up into the movie. It makes the movie fairly amusing and prevents it from being completely unwatchable but its all not good enough to make this movie a recommendable one either.
It's just not a very funny movie. A movie that missed its mark completely but it luckily still has some redeeming qualities to save this movie from being a complete disaster.
5/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/ -
shepardjessica-119 February 2005Off-beat kooky film that's great with relaxed and funny performances from James Caan & Sally Kellerman in the leads. Howard Zieff also directed HEARTS OF THE WEST 3 years later (wonderful flick). Road flick, dangerous, great supporting cast including Peter Boyle (so great in JOE, TAXI DRIVER, and THE CANDIDATE and Louise Lasser - always interesting). From the opening with Richard B. Schull, James Caan is in a state of perpetual paranoia in the plains and it's like a Jonathan Demme film crossed with David Lynch with a touch of Woody Allen. An 8 out of 10. Best performance = Peter Boyle.
Seek this little gem out if you're interested in hip 70's films that didn't make the bucks and really wasn't seen by many Americans. Terrific stuff with a laid-back yet keen sensibility. -
Completely Inoffensive and Mildly Engaging Offbeat Black Comedy that is a Crime Story Punctuated with Quirky Characters and Odd Situations. James Caan is at the Center of this Iconic Seventies Cast Including Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, Louise Lasser and a Few RecVees.
It Moves Along Comfortably while Occasionally Hitting Speed Bumps and Veering Off Center Shifting Tones While Playing Everything Perfectly Dead Panned and Straight. Kellerman Steals the Show but Not Totally Playing a Most Energetic and Eccentric Air-Head, as Everyone Seems to be Having a Grand Old Time.
Not for All Tastes it is an MGM Movie when the Studio was Dying and Frankly it didn't have a Clue what was Going On Culturally at the Time as Films were Exploding with a New Found Independence and a Near Fifty Year Formula Followed by the Industry had Recently Crumbled into Dust.
Overall, Worth a Watch for its Differentness and to See a Good Cast at Play. It's a Hoot of a Heist Movie that was Experimental and it Works Quite Well Most of the Time. -
Sturgeon548 July 2005I enjoy quirky movies, but more importantly, I enjoy movies that have a well-developed plot line. This movie is the former but not the latter. I'm not going to get into the details of the plot line because, though complex, it ends up being basically pointless. This is a movie that epitomizes the expression: "It's not the destination, but the journey, that counts." Sorry, but I only spend my hard-earned money and time on films that have a destination, that have some reason for existing. This one doesn't seem to. What is the appeal that this obscure movie holds for so many people? If a bordeline-slapstick storyline with strange but uninteresting characters is what counts for originality in film, then that must be why almost every review of this I have read says it's terrific. Evidently, it is a comedy, but I did not laugh once. Obviously, I must be missing the part of the brain that all these other reviewers have that makes them find this downright hilarious. There are some terrific actors here: James Caan, Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, and they can turn in good performances blindfolded, so their work here is what keeps this from being a totally bad film. Only Allen Garfield's scuzzy character showing up late in the film kept me interested. They should have just made a movie about him, instead. This movie is not a sleeper, it is a movie that's just asleep.
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Skragg7 October 2004I usually either don't like, or hate, action comedies - though Slither isn't one entirely. But, as far as it IS an action one, it's the best one ever made, and (to me) about the most underrated comedy of ANY category. Most comedies or dramas about cops and robbers (or about criminals, period) promise to be about the CHARACTERS more than anything, but this one keeps that promise completely. I do have one complaint about the Sally Kellerman character, and that's that, in most of the film, she was a sort of WOULD-BE maniacal character, and that one scene of her actually holding up a diner spoils that in a way. But at least that scene gave James Caan the chance to do what he did best in the movie, which was acting horrifed or disgusted by everything that happened around him. Somehow, this doesn't wear thin anywhere in the movie, especially in his scenes with Kellerman. I usually don't like crude dialogue when it's there just for the sake of it, but the laundromat scene, where she grosses him out with her talk, is done just right, and that's why it's funny. I have what is probably a real minority opinion about the film version of MASH, and that's that it works EXCEPT for the "Burns and Houlihan" scenes, which (to me) were a real waste of both her and Duvall (including that hugely famous scene). All I can say is that anyone wanting to see Sally Kellerman in a FUNNY role should see Slither instead. The same is true of Peter Boyle and Louise Lasser, and all the character actors in smaller parts, all the way to the ones in the bingo hall scene. I don't know why most other comedies of this category can't at least APPROACH this one.
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rupie2 November 2022I had never heard of this oddly titled movie (no, it's NOT about snakes) until it showed up on TCM. With people like James Caan and Peter Boyle involved, I had to take a look.
It's an odd movie, being ostensibly a crime-and-chase flick. But all the absurdly comic shenanigans and traditional crime teasers lead ultimately to an oddly deflating conclusion which somehow points to the ultimate absurdity of things. All the crime premises of the movie seem to be an elaborate McGuffin, to use Hitchcock's phrase. The closest film to it I can think of is "Charade," where all the complicated events seems to go nowhere, but you enjoy the ride anyway.
The movie does indeed keep you involved, if only to see what silliness will occur next. The script, acting and direction are all fine, although many times during the film I had to wonder what Alan Arkin would have done with James Caan's role. Also, the film's production values are topnotch; it's great to look at.
Altogether a very entertaining hour and a half. But I'd love to know just why they titled it "Slither." -
"Big Lebowski" wannabe stuff. Problem is it's about half as funny as the Coen Brothers down and out, black comedy classic, while the characters are twice as tiresome. Particularly irritating was Sally Kellerman. Far from falling in love with Kitty Kopetski, as did a previous reviewer, I kept hoping against hope that once Caan's Richard Kanipsia ditched her at the diner she'd stay ditched. And Peter Boyle's performance is a veritable treatise on over reaching for humor that is not there. Caan makes the wise choice to under play it and thus emerges relatively unscathed and Richard B Shull and Alan Garfield have brief moments of glorious schlub-dom but, all in all, this film is a dreary, sour assemblage of dreary, sour people. Certainly expected more from screenwriter Rick Richter, whose "Body Snatchers 75" pulled off the neat trick of being terrifying and risible in equal measure, than lame riffs on Polish-ness and a greed parable that is of interest to no one. And the music, as if to overcompensate for the inadequacy of Richter's screenplay, is way too cute and intrusive. Give it a C plus.
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James Caan gets out of prison with half a secret. He learned from his late cell-mate the name of the guy who is holding a few hundred grand of embezzled loot. He tracks down Peter Boyle, who knows the name of the town where the guy lives. It's the same premise as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
They set off in a well-stocked recreational vehicle to get the loot, with Boyle's wife Louise Lasser along for a "bit of a holiday." Rounding out the all-star cast are Sally Kellerman (RIP), Allan Garfield and Alex Rocco.
Howard Zieff didn't direct a lot of movies, but he showed a lot of confidence in his material and his actors to have them deliver their lines without a lot of face-pulling or histrionics. When you see a movie like this it's even more lamentable that within a few years movie comedy came to mean Steve Martin acting like a tool, Eddie Murphy mugging or Tom Hanks shouting.
Caan is more in the Alex Baldwin school of comedy. Manly and good-looking but something trapped in that vast reservoir of intensity that translates well in a dark comedy. I want to know where he went in the 80s because I see a lot of years where he could have been on screen entertaining American moviegoers.
As for Kellerman (RIP) I loved her from the movies everyone loved her in (M*A*S*H* and Back To School) but any man who can watch that scene in the motel room and not immediately fall in love with her needs to check for pennies on his own eyes. She not only had smoke coming off her, I think I saw flames. Quick cut to the diner scene and she's an over-caffienated lunatic at 2 a.m. Then in the laundromat she does ''chew and show" with an exasperated Caan. I fell in love with her all over again.
I suppose only the period between Bonnie & Clyde and Jaws could Hollywood have produced a conspiracy comedy road picture but this was it. -
mark.waltz24 April 2021Having just gotten out of prison, James Caan is looking to readapt into society, and finds nothing but trouble along the way. First it's a woman who needs help fixing her car (Sally Kellerman), and then it's a girl he barely knew from high school (Louise Lasser), now married to Peter Boyle, and a lot of other nut jobs told you nothing but lead him into trouble. This action comedy hasn't really stood the test of time, stuck in the counterculture of the 70's as a road movie that gives real indication as to why one needs a place to settle down.
Caan, really hot off of "The Godfather", and Kellerman, even more neurotic than she was as "Hot Lips" in "MASH", are fun to watch together, but Kellerman is a train wreck, the type of woman that Caan does not need at this point in his life. She gets him into trouble with the cops simply by being present when the police officer notices that she's been driving barefoot, and later goes ballistic in the motel room they end up in together. Of course, he's out of there quickly but then she shows up later in the film for more trouble for him.
Lasser and Boyle really don't provide any necessity to the story other than Lasser indicating that she once had a crush on Caan, and the people in their little social circle are ones to run away from. It's a weird, dated screenplay, the first direction effort by Howard Zieff, and it may have better been served as a script for Woody Allen with his usual cast of characters because then it might be more well-known. As it is, it's another example of why the 70's in many ways were very weird, especially if you were unestablished somewhere. The action part of the story doesn't really drive it either, and it left me feeling depressed over a wasted 90 minutes. -
rmyers75 December 2009I just watched this again for the first time in many years. I had recalled what a twisted dark comedy this was, but I did not remember it in sufficient detail how it came to be that way.
It has a wonderful, almost prototypical, '70s comedy cast but I don't think that the secret lies there. I really think that it comes from the writing and direction. There is an ambiguity and ellipticality to just about every sequence. As a viewer you are never sure quite what anything means and quite what was important in what you have just seen. But later, if you have been observant, little things start to come together in disturbing patterns.
An example without getting spoilerish -- early on James Caan is thrown out of a ride that he has hitched because the driver has decided that he is a useless slacker (in reality the character hasn't had a chance to do anything useful as he's just been released from prison). The landscape is reminiscent of the stubble field of the airplane chase in 'North by Northwest'. However, there is an emergency phone with an attractive young woman (Sally Kellerman) in a stalled station wagon right there. She is on the phone asking for help, and seeing Caan asks him to help, which he does. Just then a cop pulls up (directed by the call?) asks if she needs assistance. She answers no. The cop tries to ascertain who owns and is driving the car. Upon finding out that it is her, and noting her increasingly erratic behavior, he tells her that Caan has to drive, as she's barefoot. Is the cop trying to hassle them, or is just trying to get them safely on their way and away from him when she is clearly not fully there? Shortly thereafter Caan asks her what she is up on, she answers that she had a glass of wine with a salami sandwich. It's pretty clear that alcohol is _not_ her intoxicant of choice. Later we see her popping unidentified pills several times.
Watch for patterns and reappearances, some of them are quite subtle.
I've got to give a shout out to my local video store which had a VHS copy (1990) on the shelf. This isn't available on DVD. -
brianwhite54 May 2018Probably Caan's best movie , a great cast, subtle comedy, brilliant direction and pure originality.
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bannonanthony30 November 2002I had read about this film for years before I actually saw it, and I have to say that when I saw it earlier today, I enjoyed it! Okay, it can be a bit slow in parts but was overall a good picture.
SPOILER WARNINGS: James Caan and Richard B. Shull play two newly released cons. After their release, they both head up to Shull's cabin. Not long after their arrival, they are shot at by unseen assailants. In his dying moments, Shull gives Caan the name of a man whom he once worked with and the name of another man, saying that he can find a secret stash of money. Caan escapes the cabin as Shull tries to hurl dynamite at the snipers and ends up blowing the building to kingdom come! And this is all before the opening credits roll!
The film then gets going as Caan hits the road to hook up with Peter Boyle, a small-time entertainer, and his wife, an old school-friend of Caan's. Before meeting them, he comes across Sally Kellerman as a hippie-chick type who turns out to be a thief. He ditches her after she holds up a diner, but their paths cross again and she ends up joining them on their quest to find over $3000 which Shull and Boyle had embezzled in the past. They must first find the elusive Vincent Palmer, who had been charged with hiding the loot. So, to this end, they hitch up Boyle's high-class caravan to his car, and begin their road trip.
But they are not alone. Since the beginning, Caan has been tailed by a large, black RV with tinted windows, which was parked near Shull's cabin. As time goes by, a second van just like it joins the chase. Caan and his friends speculate on who may be driving these shady vehicles (the wacky Kellerman suggests aliens at one point) but wherever they go, their unknown pursuers are never far behind. At one point, Boyle disappears and the others assume that he has been kidnapped and tortured. When they arrive at a campsite, the RV's occupants are revealed to be a group of sinister, bespectacled men, two of whom Caan has already encountered on his journey. He manages to give them the slip with the help of Kellarman, and the action leads to a final battle on the road between the RVs and Caan's car.
The performances in the film are okay, but both the main female characters are underdeveloped. Most of the other characters are just cameos. The music score is very odd, jazz-type music. But the music played when the RVs appear is suitably menacing. The RVs themselves are menacing, and they provide adequate suspense as we wonder who drives them and why they are after Caan and co. The ending is a great twist, which I won't spoil for you. A great, funny and thrilling road movie! I'd give it three stars out of five. -
JasparLamarCrabb23 November 2014Howard Zieff's wonderfully absurd directorial debut casts James Caan as a recent parolee pursuing some stolen loot and running into one kook after another. From a script by W.D. Richter, the film is a series of vignettes, one more ridiculous than the last. It's all played at such a high level of insanity, it's impossible to dislike it. Caan is exceptional, befuddled beyond belief by the likes of Sally Kellerman, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield and Louise Lasser. Each one of them is bizarrely idiosyncratic: Kellerman is hopped up on goof-balls and runs roughshod over Caan with each interaction; Boyle is so positive and upbeat about everything it's easy to forget what a sleaze he's playing; Lasser, as Boyle's insanely supportive wife, is hysterical. One of the great 70s road movies, now residing in the "where-is-it-now?" file. The cinematography is by the great László Kovács. Alex Rocco, Richard B. Shull are in it too. In her 147th film, 74 year-old Virginia Sale plays a very wry bingo caller.
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PimpinAinttEasy28 December 2017James cann in a rare simpleton role. He plays a guy who just got out of jail and will go with anything. He just drifts with a guy who gets shot but gives him some information that could land him some money.
Then he gets picked up by the beautiful barefoot Sally Kellerman. But he discovers that she is a psycho.
He contacts the brother of the guy who gave him the information. and the brother (played by the portly peter boyle), James Cann and the brothers wife (louise lasser) embark on a road trip to get the money.
A sinister looking vehicle is following them.
The film has many good bits. The dialogs are fantastic and memorable. All these meandering 70s movies were awesome. slither, 92 in a shade and five easy pieces. Somehow they celebrate the possibilities of life but its all quite depressing in the end. Human nature messes up everything.
I loved this film. I watched it without subtitles. So i had to listen hard to what they were saying. Some of the scenes were laugh out loud funny.
The film has a great action sequence towards the end. And even a great scary moment that would make most horror filmakers green with envy.
It is a bittersweet road film. One which makes you confused about what to think about it.
(8/10) -
SamHardy20 November 2011This is a character driven comedy, drama, crime, mystery that defies definition.
Back in the 70's some really fine films were made, and there were some really terrible ones too. But the movie studios were in the mood to make so many films that in the process some totally unique ones that just happened to be good were made. I don't know why this film never got the attention it deserved. When I first saw it in 1973 I have to admit I was under the influence of herbal substances. It was a favorite pastime back then to get a buzz on and see a movie. I thought it was very funny at the time. Seeing it for the second time last night I was delighted to find out that even without mood altering contraband it was every bit as funny as the first time. Now that's saying something.
If you love really great character performances this one is full of em. Sally Kellerman appeared to be having the time of her life. It must have been a character actor's wet dream. It does not hurt to have a great script either. Slither had it in spades.
This films will keep you guessing the entire time. I don't care how many films you have seen, you will not be able to predict the outcome of this one. But along the way be prepared for some incredibly dark humor that carries you along till the very end.
I will make you a bet. There is a bit of an introductory plot outline that shows up before the opening credits. If you can stay with it till then, you will not be able to turn it off. I bet you a big black van that you will finish it.
"who are those guys anyway?" The fun of finding out is a real pleasure trip.